JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – The Carson-Newman Eagles used a late 10-point run to put away visiting Tennessee Wesleyan, 75-60, on Wednesday night in Holt Fieldhouse.
Seven straight points by sophomore Antoine Davis and a three-point play from Collin Crane fueled the spurt, turning a tight contest throughout into an 18-point Eagle lead in the final minutes.
Carson-Newman wore down TWC in the post, scoring 54 points in the paint, grabbing 14 offensive rebounds, and blocking six shots. With the win, the Eagles improve to 6-4. TWC falls to 6-4.
Junior point guard Marcellous Perez scored a career high 17 points finishing 7-of-11 from the floor with two assists. He also had three steals and a handful of buckets in transition.
Davis' late spurt helped him overcome a slow start offensively. He finished with 15 points and rebounds. Sophomore Ishmael Sanders led the Eagles with 18 points in 30 minutes. He added six rebounds.
Freshman Kennedy Eubanks added 12 for C-N.
A free throw from the Bulldogs' Desmond Crisp cut the Eagle lead to four at 49-45 with 9:30 to play before Davis sparked the Eagles.
The sophomore buried back-to-back threes in the open court as the Eagles broke the game open. Senior Kevin Hare followed with a put back of a Davis miss to extend the Eagles lead to double digits for the first time at 58-47 with 6:54 to play.
After a turnover by Crisp, Crane followed with a three-point play on a missed Perez layup and Perez picked off a TWC's E'Jay Ward at midcourt and took it in for the score to give C-N a 65-51 lead with 4:55 to play.
Carson-Newman shot 49 percent (32-of-65) from the floor and held the Bulldogs to just 39 percent shooting, but committed 20 turnovers to keep things interesting.
The Eagles outrebounded TWC, 45-30 and were 28-of-45 from inside the arc.
Crisp led Tennessee Wesleyan with 19 points.
Carson-Newman returns to action against Lees-McRae on Saturday at 3 p.m. in Holt Fieldhouse.
